Actor Jason Robards Jr. refers to him as Billy Big Boy, but whatever the sobriquet, William Shakespeare has been big box office in the last few years, and not only at Shakespeare Rep.
Other local theaters have decided that attention must be paid. The Goodman, which will present “Richard II” Jan. 14-Feb. 19, also has recently produced “The Winter’s Tale,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and what one observer calls its “notorious, cross-dressing production” of “Twelfth Night.”
Classics-oriented Court Theatre in Hyde Park has produced “Othello” and “Measure for Measure” over the past two seasons. This summer, “Romeo and Juliet” was performed by the Oak Park Festival Theatre as its annual under-the-stars presentation, following other fare such as “Richard III” and both parts of “Henry IV.”
Last year the Chicago-based International Theatre Festival brought in the English Shakespeare Company’s “Macbeth” and “Twelfth Night,” as well as a Japanese company’s production of “Macbeth.” The festival also imported actor/director Kenneth Branagh’s Renaissance Theatre Company (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “King Lear”) in 1990, and two years earlier, the English Shakespeare Company’s spectacular seven-play cycle, “War of the Roses.”
The seven-season-old Footsteps Theatre, on North Clark Street in Rogers Park, is presenting “Romeo and Juliet” through Dec. 12 and previously staged “Hamlet” and “Two Gentlemen of Verona.” The Shakespeare’s Herd company is doing a “Henry VI” trilogy, with part II scheduled to begin Dec. 13 at Footsteps Theatre and part III on Jan. 17 at the Greenview Arts Center, also in Rogers Park. The ELT (Equity Library Theatre) will be doing “Henry VI,” parts I and II, and “Henry V,” starting Feb. 14 at Footsteps.
At the moment, “Timon of Athens,” with Brian Bedford, is being presented by the National Actors Theatre in New York. Nationally, there are Shakespeare summer festivals in places as disparate as New York’s Central Park; Spring Green, Wis.; Ashland, Ore.; and San Diego. Stratford in Canada used to perform Shakespeare exclusively, but now mixes in all kinds of plays and musicals.
Hollywood has given the Bard a big boost recently, with Branagh’s critically acclaimed and commercially welcomed “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Henry V” (which put a new spin on the Laurence Olivier 1945 classic). Director Franco Zeffirelli has long been getting attention for his “The Taming of the Shrew” (1967), with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor; “Romeo and Juliet” (1968), with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey; and “Hamlet” (1990), with Mel Gibson.
Shakespeare also may be getting a good reception in local secondary schools. “I think students’ interest has built over the last four or five years,” says Rich Westley, a member of the English department at St. Ignatius College Prep.
“Last year we saw `Lear’ at Shakespeare Rep, and it was tremendous. When you take students out to see Shakespeare, it is so electrifying. Once you see a good production, it makes reading the plays easier the next time because you’ll be able to imagine what a production might look like.
“We also had an interesting discussion about the movie version of `Much Ado About Nothing’-how it was better that Denzel Washington made no pretense to go for an accent, and how a lot of Michael Keaton’s wonderful performance was lost because of his low tones and clipped-off speech.”
“We use the Zeffirelli films, which we love,” adds Dorothy Finwall, an English teacher at Kennedy High School. “And I’ve seen a change in myself because of what Shakespeare Rep is doing. They’ve made me feel that it is possible to excite students about Shakespeare. Before, I felt kind of alone.
“The kids loved their production of `Cymbeline.’ I noticed a distinct difference in the classroom afterwards because they had seen a Shakespearan play actually performed and not just read.”
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